Monday!
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Ok, we have the following diary schedule. If you would like to fill in, either post in the thread or send FloridaSNMom a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FSNMom is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday: BadKitties
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday: Caedy
Thursday: weck
Friday: FloridaSNMOM
Saturday: broths
Sunday: loggersbrat
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
My son's take on a Church painting.
I believe in reincarnation. Since I first learned about it, in a fifth-grade Comparative Religion class, it made perfect sense to me. Souls live forever, and the husks that they occupy molder and turn to dust. And if you live your life well, you get to come back to a better life.
The early Christians also believed in reincarnation. But in the sixth century, the Empress Theodora ordered all references to reincarnation removed from the Bible. Theodora's rise to power and influence over the Church. Her reasoning was simple: She apparently did not want to pay for the sins of this life in the next, and she also did not want to be possibly reborn as a peasant. The abolition of reincarnation also helped to cement the power of the Church over people:
Theodora was a living example of how a power elite responds to the idea of reincarnation. First of all, a member of this power elite does not like the idea that they cannot escape punishment. Yet, beyond that personal concern, they have another reason why they do not want people to believe in the idea of reincarnation.
The idea of reincarnation states that you can be punished for your actions in a future lifetime. However, the other side of the coin is that you have more than one lifetime to work out your salvation. This is an idea which does not appeal to a power elite who wants to use religion to gain absolute power over the people.
The modus operandi of the power elite is to set up an organized church and claim that it offers the only path to salvation. This idea works best if people believe that they have only one lifetime to secure their salvation. If people believe that it is now or never, they are far more likely to follow the edicts of the outer church.
If you believe that you have more than one chance to qualify for salvation, then some of the immediacy goes away. You are not as likely to follow the outer church to the letter, and you are not as likely to blindly accept the claims made by the church.
Source
Just for fun, I once did a past-life regression session with a psychic in Denver. She said that I had been a courtesan in ancient Rome, a Native American in Wisconsin, and that I was burned as a witch in Salem. Interestingly enough, she also said, "Your mother and your son have a very special connection, don't they?" I said that they did. She told me that they had both been Native American warriors, and the best of friends. DH and I are supposedly in our fourth life together. Hopefully we'll get it right this time =)
Deja vu, that feeling of having met someone before, or the feeling that a place is familiar (even though you KNOW that you don't know the person and have never been to the place) may also be connected to reincarnation, although no one knows for sure.
I hope that everyone has a good day today, whether you believe that you only live once, or not.